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1 Franc - Chambre de Commerce de Boulogne-sur-Mer 62
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Boulogne-sur-Mer |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Franc |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Printed entirely in green on white paper with a fine letterpress guilloche border and a repeated watermark-style underprint of the issuer's name across the field. At the top centre, an oval vignette contains an anchor and maritime emblems beneath an all-seeing eye motif, flanked by the full issuer legend. The denomination UN FRANC is printed in large bold type at centre, with two circular text panels at left and right detailing the ministerial authorisation and the anti-counterfeiting warning respectively. Two red numeral '1' corner pieces appear at lower left and right, above the serial number and series letter printed in black. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Repeated text watermark reading CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE BOULOGNE SUR MER impressed across the entire paper field. |
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| Comments |
French chambres de commerce were authorized to issue emergency fractional notes in August 1914 as the mobilization crisis drained metallic coin from circulation almost overnight. Boulogne-sur-Mer, as a major Channel port, felt that drain acutely — the volume of troop and supply movement through the town in those first weeks made small-denomination liquidity an immediate practical problem, not an abstract monetary one.
The JP#31-12 reference places this within the Pirot-Jodet corpus of French nécessité issues. Watermarked paper was the primary anti-counterfeiting measure for most chamber issues of this period, security printing being both expensive and slow to arrange under wartime conditions.